Emo Court Drawings Collection
TitleEmo Court Drawings Collection
Reference0091/101-
Date
1780; 1812-1835
Scope and ContentJohn Dawson, Viscount Carlow and 1st Earl of Portarlington commissioned James Gandon in 1780 to design a new mansion on his Co. Laois estate. Later called Emo Park (now Emo Court), it is situated to the west of Dawson Court, an early eighteenth-century Palladian mansion, set in a formal landscape, which his grandfather Ephraim Dawson had built. Work progressed on the house from 1790, and the landscape was re-designed, but by the time of Dawson’s death in 1798, only the shell of the house was completed.
Dawson’s son, the 2nd Earl of Portarlington, employed several architects to complete the work. From 1822 to 1831 Arthur and John Williamson produced designs for a kitchen wing and the north front portico which were unrealized. However, their scheme for the entrance portico was implemented. Lewis Vulliamy took over in the early 1830s. Vulliamy exhibited his designs for Emo at the Royal Academy in 1834 and produced working drawings for the north portico, as well as unexecuted designs kitchen wing. It is likely that the surviving decorative schemes in the hall and dining room were executed in the 1830s.
The 3rd Earl, who succeeded in 1845, sold part of the heavily indebted estate through the Encumbered Estates Court in 1852 and used the proceeds to complete the house. He employed William Caldbeck to decorate the rotunda, drawing room and library, build a bachelor’s wing above a new kitchen block and erect gate lodges. This work was completed in 1861.
Having served as a Jesuit novitiate from 1930 to 1969, when many interior items were removed, the house was restored by Cholmeley Dering Cholmeley-Harrison to its mid-nineteenth-century state. Cholmeley-Harrison donated the house and estate to the State in 1994.
The drawings in this collection reflect the various building stages for the house and the out buildings on the demesne.
Included within the collection are a sketched elevation for the Church of St John the Evangelist, Coolbanagher attributed to James Gandon (91/101_96) and sketched pew for the Portarlingtons (91/101_97) and an unsigned, undated plan of Luttrellstown Castle (91/101_103).
Dawson’s son, the 2nd Earl of Portarlington, employed several architects to complete the work. From 1822 to 1831 Arthur and John Williamson produced designs for a kitchen wing and the north front portico which were unrealized. However, their scheme for the entrance portico was implemented. Lewis Vulliamy took over in the early 1830s. Vulliamy exhibited his designs for Emo at the Royal Academy in 1834 and produced working drawings for the north portico, as well as unexecuted designs kitchen wing. It is likely that the surviving decorative schemes in the hall and dining room were executed in the 1830s.
The 3rd Earl, who succeeded in 1845, sold part of the heavily indebted estate through the Encumbered Estates Court in 1852 and used the proceeds to complete the house. He employed William Caldbeck to decorate the rotunda, drawing room and library, build a bachelor’s wing above a new kitchen block and erect gate lodges. This work was completed in 1861.
Having served as a Jesuit novitiate from 1930 to 1969, when many interior items were removed, the house was restored by Cholmeley Dering Cholmeley-Harrison to its mid-nineteenth-century state. Cholmeley-Harrison donated the house and estate to the State in 1994.
The drawings in this collection reflect the various building stages for the house and the out buildings on the demesne.
Included within the collection are a sketched elevation for the Church of St John the Evangelist, Coolbanagher attributed to James Gandon (91/101_96) and sketched pew for the Portarlingtons (91/101_97) and an unsigned, undated plan of Luttrellstown Castle (91/101_103).
Extent103 items
LanguageEnglish
Archival historyThese drawings for Emo Court were acquired by the Irish Architectural Archive in 1991.
Level of descriptionfonds
